Environmental legislation is driving the exhaust emissions of internal combustion engines down towards zero emissions. To date, diesel engines have largely managed to achieve the present regulatory standards without the aid of exhaust gas after treatment (EGA) however, future standards are intended to drive the use of EGA, wherein emission levels are further reduced. Currently, EGA technologies are being developed, but their installed cost, space claim, reductant requirements, deterioration factors, calibration issues, and other negative aspects continue to make the pursuit of minimized engine-out emissions a high-value endeavour.
Typical fuel injector nozzles are configured such that fuel spray pattern, fuel atomization and fuel/air mixing are optimized for combustion during the most prevalent engine operating condition (e.g., normal Compression Ignition (CI) operation) however, EGA technologies and other emission reduction technologies require the fuel injector nozzles to operate at in-cylinder conditions untypical of normal operation. Thus, fuel injector nozzles are currently not adaptable to provide optimized fuel spray patterns, fuel flow rates, fuel atomization and fuel/air mixtures of varying degrees for both “normal operation” and operations associated with non-traditional emission reduction cycles.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide an apparatus and method for providing fuel to the cylinder in a variety of conditions, which may include normal operation and operations associated with non-traditional emissions reduction cycles.